Chapter 68

Chapter 68. The Good Mage, the Bad Mage, and the Strange Mage (1)

It was a hot day as summer deepened.

Gaston, Tower Master of Roches, arrived in Marcel aboard a merchant ship.

The moment he disembarked, he looked around the city in fascination.

“Ohhh. The flow of mana here forms a vortex.”

His young disciple, who had accompanied him, asked,

“A vortex? I don’t really feel anything.”

“Mana gathers here like the center of a gigantic storm.”

“Isn’t that simply another way of saying the location has good feng shui?”

“You idiot. Imagine how much better research would be if we built a Mage Tower in a place like this.”

The disciple waved dismissively.

“If this were a huge city like Le Capital, maybe. But young mages won’t come to a rural place like this. Look around. There aren’t even many pretty women...”

Smack!

“Ow! Why did you hit me?”

“You bastard. Chatillon is one thing, but now you’re defying me too? Where did you learn such terrible habits?”

Gaston and Count Chatillon had been master and disciple for over twenty years.

They were practically friends.

But this disciple was still a young boy.

Naturally, Gaston became angry.

“...Forgive me, Master.”

“Ugh. My doctor told me not to get angry because I’ll lose more hair. Damn it.”

Gaston rubbed his head and continued walking.

Soon, both of them suddenly stopped.

“Master, there’s a beautiful woman.”

“Where?”

“That woman over there... Wait, she’s coming this way.”

“Damn, I didn’t even wash my face. What do I say?”

The person approaching the suddenly nervous pair was Chloe.

She appeared with several attendants and greeted Gaston.

“Welcome. I am Chloe, Chief of Foreign Affairs. My lord sent me to greet you.”

Realizing she had approached for official business, Gaston visibly relaxed.

“Phew. I am Gaston. But how did you know I was arriving?”

“I’m not certain myself. His Lordship suddenly sent me.”

“Interesting. And how did you recognize my face?”

“Well...”

For only a tenth of a second, Chloe glanced toward Gaston’s head.

His shining bald head was easy to recognize from a distance.

“Ahem!”

“Forgive me. We already acquired your portrait.”

“Anyway, understood. Lead the way.”

Gaston and his party traveled with Chloe by carriage to the lord’s residence.

* * *

Gaston Gastel.

Tower Master of the prestigious Roches Mage Tower, one of the top two or three Mage Towers in the Franche Kingdom.

He was also the master of Count Chatillon, one of the kingdom’s most powerful men.

That man was currently sitting in front of me.

“Viscount Marcel, I read your letter.”

“I apologize if I dragged you into something troublesome.”

“Not at all. It was extremely entertaining.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

My planned canal began at the point where the borders of Marcel, Ronalp, and Perrier met.

Naturally, it would have a major influence on the economies of all three territories.

And that influence would not stop there.

Gaston had understood that from a single map.

He casually tested me.

“Are you perhaps planning to unify the entire kingdom?”

“Will you help me?”

Gaston’s eyes widened.

Then he laughed loudly.

“Hahahaha! You truly are something!”

After calming down, he continued in a gentler voice.

“I’m satisfied simply watching something entertaining. I want to live a long life.”

“I’ll make it even more entertaining.”

“No need. However, I can probably persuade Chatillon not to interfere too much.”

“That alone is more than enough. Thank you.”

He was saying he would help Court Count Chatillon remain somewhat neutral regarding events in the south.

The old man in front of me apparently intended to observe my activities like some voyeuristic pervert.

Just as the rumors said, he was extremely curious and loved pranks.

“I’ll begin canal construction as quickly as possible.”

“But I haven’t prepared the payment yet.”

“Pay me after you earn the money. You have a payment plan, don’t you?”

“I’ll send it around the end of the year.”

“Hehehe. Hopefully Chatillon steals only a small portion.”

I drank tea and talked with this strange old man for hours.

Most of the conversation involved useless stories about women, investments, and insulting ignorant knights.

Eventually, Gaston became tired and prepared to leave for his lodging.

Then he asked something completely unrelated.

“By the way, how did you know I was arriving and send someone?”

“With those. I didn’t know the exact date, so I checked every ship arriving from Le Capital.”

I pointed toward several telescopes mounted on tripods.

They were only prototypes, not full production models.

I had first confirmed telescopes did not exist on the Northern Continent.

Then I made glassworkers and craftsmen produce several refracting telescopes.

“What is that? A long tube.”

“A telescope. It lets you see distant objects clearly.”

“A magic item?”

“No magic is involved.”

“Let me try.”

Gaston looked through one telescope and reacted with fascination.

“Oh! I can see all the way to the harbor! But why is everything upside down?”

The device used two convex lenses.

That caused the image to invert.

“This one shows the image upright.”

This version used a concave eyepiece.

The image was upright, but magnification was lower.

Gaston became interested like a child.

“It’s convenient that the image is upright, but the previous one showed things more clearly.”

“We’re testing several designs, but polishing clear glass is extremely difficult. For now, these are the only versions we can make.”

Adding more lenses would eventually create something closer to a proper scope.

Unfortunately, glassworking technology was far too limited.

Right now, craftsmen were working through the night trying to improve it.

Naturally, not me.

“Hmm. Veneto produces the best glass. Even our Mage Tower imports all our laboratory equipment from there.”

“I couldn’t recruit their glassworkers. The Imperial family controls them directly.”

“I see. That is unfortunate. Which guild do you intend to register this telescope with?”

“There doesn’t appear to be a glass guild. I’m still thinking about it.”

“Give it to me. I’ll register it through our Mage Tower and protect the rights.”

Mage Towers never violated one another’s patents.

In fact, they protected them.

Part of that came from a mage’s sense of honor.

More importantly, enormous profits were involved.

If you protected another person’s rice bowl, they protected yours.

“Why don’t you buy the rights instead?”

“What? Don’t tell me you’re trying to use this to pay for the canal.”

I shrugged.

Telescopes were valuable.

But they were incredibly difficult for Marcel to make.

Mass production was impossible.

Producing even one was hard.

If I could simply hand over the principle and structure on paper and make money from that, it would be enough.

“Hmph. I feel like I’m losing money. Earthmoving magic is expensive.”

“I know.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Gaston remained standing there, thinking.

At that moment, his young disciple entered my office.

Apparently, he had come to check because his master had not returned.

Curious about the disciple’s level, I spread out my senses.

His level isn’t particularly high. Is he the child of some noble?

Then,

“Viscount, what did you just do?”

Oops.

Had I made a mistake?

I had spread mana in front of a powerful mage.

Naturally, he noticed.

“Forgive me. I was curious about that boy’s level, so I used mana to check.”

“Forgive you? I asked because it was fascinating. Spreading mana this thin and wide is an impressive technique. Where did you learn it?”

“I naturally learned to do it.”

That was not a lie.

In my previous life, after surviving countless deadly battles, I had gradually learned the trick.

Many experienced Hunters could do something similar.

A few genius knights in this world had also learned it naturally.

“Wonderful. Maybe I should practice it too.”

For a Franche mage who rarely risked his life in war, it was practically useless.

“Are you planning to join a war?”

“Hahahaha! Isn’t secretly observing other people entertaining? Teach me how later.”

“Sure.”

As expected, he was a strange old voyeur.

Then Gaston said,

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll inspect the canal route. Assign several knights to me.”

“Thank you, Tower Master.”

“Consider it payment for all the interesting things I saw today.”

Fast construction was always welcome.

* * *

The next day, Tower Master Gaston left to inspect the canal route.

He said he wanted more time to think about the telescope rights.

I discussed the situation with Diego.

“If this goes well, we might get the canal for free. Is there anything else we can sell him?”

“I’m not an inventor, so I have no idea.”

Maybe if I added one more invention that did not exist in this world.

Something difficult for Marcel to manufacture.

Or something easy for other people to copy.

I could sell only the concept and principle of something I had no ability to exploit myself.

“The substances produced during fertilizer research are out. Should I make pencils like the cliché?”

“Cli... what is that?”

“Kids don’t need to know.”

Witch Winnie was currently experimenting with processing guano in many different ways.

By accident, she had discovered dangerous substances such as ammonium nitrate and white phosphorus during that research.

I had little knowledge of chemistry.

However, [Convenient Lesser Appraisal] allowed me to identify the byproducts.

According to Winnie, several people had already been injured by explosions and poisonous gases.

That was why every alchemist working at the fertilizer laboratory was under surveillance.

Money was good.

Still, I did not want dangerous substances spreading yet.

“How do you make pencil leads again? Mix graphite with clay and bake it? Where do we even find graphite?”

“They sell graphite at the market. People use it like charcoal for drawing and writing on wooden boards.”

“Oh. They already use it? Damn. I underestimated this analog age.”

“Anal... what is that?”

“I told you, children don’t need to know.”

“...I’m one year older than you, my lord.”

Anyway, I decided to create only a rough pencil prototype and show it to Gaston.

Making it personally would be annoying.

I would dump the work on a subordinate.

“Diego, find one or two people who can make writing tools using graphite.”

“Yes, my lord. I’ll bring them immediately.”

Diego ran outside.

When money was involved, that bastard moved faster than lightning.

However, despite all our effort, Gaston was not tempted by the pencil.

He became obsessed with something completely unexpected.

* * *

Gaston and his party returned after completing the first inspection of the canal route.

Everyone in the lord’s residence was busy.

So Mother Maria and several maids handled the hospitality.

Gaston was covered in dirt and dust after spending hours in a carriage.

Maria suggested,

“My name is Maria May. We prepared a bath and clean clothes for you.”

“Ohhh, thank you! And Madam, you truly possess beauty bestowed by heaven!”

“Hehe. You’ll make the gods angry by saying things like that. This way, please.”

For some reason, Gaston had started liking this rural place called Marcel.

Beautiful women kept appearing from nowhere.

Feeling cheerful after seeing Maria, Gaston entered the bath while humming.

A maid handed him a bar of soap.

Maria had made it from olive oil.

“What is this?”

“Soap.”

“I don’t use that pig-smelling stuff.”

Gel-like soap made from animal fat was already common.

However, it smelled so bad that people rarely used it for bathing.

“This soap is made from olive oil. It has a pleasant fragrance, so please try it.”

“Give it here.”

Gaston received the soap and smelled it.

An unfamiliar floral scent filled his nose.

It was refreshing enough to make his mind feel clearer.

“Ohhh! This is incredible! It’s solid and smells good!”

He wet the soap and rubbed it.

It produced a respectable amount of foam.

The local groundwater contained relatively little mineral content.

That helped the soap foam well.

Gaston enjoyed bathing.

He quickly fell in love with Maria’s soap.

“Who made this?”

“Lady Maria made it. She produces quite a lot and sells it to women throughout the territory.”

The maid sounded proud.

Apparently, it was true.

“So Viscount Marcel isn’t the only one with unusual talents.”

“His Lordship originally taught Lady Maria how to make it.”

“Really? I see.”

After enjoying his bath, Gaston hurried directly to Eric’s office.

He pushed the door open as though trying to break it.

“Viscount Marcel! Trade me the soap for the canal!”